The artwork in the comic books would look familiar to any comic book fan. A well-muscled, green-skinned man and a Wonder Woman-type character square off against several figures with the faces of humans and bodies of snakes.
The comic book – written in Hindi and published by Raj Comics – is one of about 1,000 Indian comic books in the University of Illinois library system. South Asian Studies librarian Mara Thacker began collecting the comics for the University of Illinois in 2012, and its libraries now have what she believes is the largest collection of Indian comics in North America.

Modernism has ignited a new passion among designers and collectors, who value the movement’s objects as historical icons. It also has inspired artists who are using modernist design objects in their own work to comment on the movement’s cultural significance. That artwork forms the exhibition “MetaModern,” opening at Krannert Art Museum on Jan. 29.